@MiamiWBB Falls Short at No. 4 Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Miami put an early scare into the fourth-ranked Louisville Cardinals Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center.

Playing in front of a boisterous crowd of 9,887, the Hurricanes led by as many as 13 points in a 68-55 defeat, despite tremendous effort from the visitors.

“I was proud, we played very hard,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “I think at halftime [I felt] we had played a little too hard in the first half . . . You get a lead in the first half on the road you get all excited. The other team’s going to come back. That’s ACC basketball.”

Miami (15-5, 5-2 ACC) came out furiously to open the game, grabbing a 15-4 advantagein the first five and a half minutes.

The Hurricanes were led by Adrienne Motley during the stretch, as the sophomore guard caught fire from the field. She scored 11 of the first 19 points by either team and made each of her first five field goal attempts.

“Just the game plan,” Motley said of what helped the team get off to such a fast start. “Coach told us we need to get open shots off of ball screens and we were just executing that.”

Motley shot 6-of-8 from the field in the first half and entered the break with 14 points to lead all scorers, but she was not the only Hurricane who impressed in the opening 20 minutes.

Redshirt senior Jassany Williams had six points, including a pair of jumpers, and two blocks, one of which was a ferocious swat that drew big cheers from the Miami fans behind the team’s bench. Senior forward Necole Sterling had five points at halftime and senior guard Suriya McGuire had five rebounds.

Miami led by as much as 13 in the first half, but the talented Cardinals would not cave. At halftime it was 31-27 Hurricanes.

Louisville (18-2, 6-1 ACC) opened the second half by continuing its strong play and in just under two minutes managed to grab its first lead since a 2-0 scoreline.

From there the Cardinals continued to extend their advantage. The Hurricanes went on a 14-4 run late in the game to cut the deficit to seven with 3:07 to play, but it was not quite enough.

In a battle between two teams tied for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Hurricanes came up just short.

“We got a lot of young kids out there that are getting unbelievable game experience on the road. We finished that game very young,” Meier said of what she takes away from this game. “As long as we take these lessons and we figure out what it takes to win–we’ve held off at home, but on the road we just got to grow up a little bit. This is a game we won’t forget, we’ll learn from it.”

Motley led Miami with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting and also grabbed four rebounds. Redshirt junior Michelle Woods added 10 points for the Hurricanes.

Louisville freshman forward Myisha Hines-Allen led all scorers with 23 points, while senior guard Bria Smith and freshman forward Mariya Moore both posted 13.

Miami held Louisville’s Sara Hammond scoreless, after the senior forward entered averaging 11.5 points per game.

The Hurricanes have a full week until their next game, which will be Sunday, Feb. 1 at Pittsburgh. The game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center and will be broadcast on ESPN3.

MIAMI HURRICANES POSTGAME NOTES

• For the fifth game in a row, Miami started Suriya McGuire, Adrienne Motley, Necole Sterling, Jessica Thomas, and Jassany Williams
• The all-time series between Miami and Louisville is now even at 1-1.
• Katie Meier’s career record is now 254-171 in 14 seasons as a head coach.
• Meier moves to 178-126 in 10 years at Miami.
• Louisville did not attempt a free throw in the first half.
• This is just the second time all season Miami has lost after leading at halftime and the first loss after holding an advantage of multiple points at the break.
• Adrienne Motley has scored in double figures in 17 of Miami’s 20 games this season and has eight-plus in all but one.
• Motley scored 15-plus points for the 15th time this season and led or co-led the Hurricanes in scoring for the 13th time. She also went over 250 made field goals in her career.
• Adrienne Motley also matched her career high with 36 minutes played (previously done multiple times, most recently at Duke, 1/18/15).
• Michelle Woods scored in double figures for the third time in the last four games after doing so three times in the first 16 games of the season.
• Woods played a season-high 30 minutes (previous 29, vs. Oakland, 11/14/14) and passed 1,500 minutes played as a Hurricane.
• Jessica Thomas played a career-high 35 minutes (previous 31, vs. LSU, 12/29/14) and eclipsed 1,000 minutes played as a collegian.
• Freshman forward Khaila Prather matched her career high with a game-high two blocks (previous vs. Boston College, 1/4/15).
• Necole Sterling equaled her season best with six rebounds (previously done multiple times, most recently at Duke, 1/18/15). This is the second straight road game and second consecutive game against a ranked team that Sterling has had six rebounds.
• Jassany Williams eclipsed 100 made free throws as a collegian.
• Necole Sterling went over 100 made field goals in her two years as a Hurricane.
• Suriya McGuire passed 400 rebounds in her college career.